Coroner Ke Xue

Lin Xinyi chased Kudo and others across the road.

Miyano Shiho looked at his back thoughtfully, and finally slowly followed him.

Soon, they followed the direction of the previous sound and came to the alley next to the department store.

Ishikawa, Aoki, Kudo Shinichi and Mao Lilan, who had taken the first step, were all at the entrance of this alley at this time.

Take a closer look inside:

The alley is narrow and a dead end.

It was empty inside. Except for an iron fire staircase welded to the outside of the wall of the department store and leading from the ground to the fourth floor, there was nothing else in the alley.

And the iron fire ladder that leads directly to the fourth floor also looks very dilapidated.

The steps were covered with mottled rust, and the guardrails were extremely decayed by time.

Even the only thing connected to the fire escape, the iron door on the outer wall of the fourth floor of the department store, was completely covered with rust. It was probably completely rusted to death and could not be opened.

Apparently, the fire stairway, which was in a state of disrepair, had not been used for a long time.

And this dead-end alley, with no other way out except the fire stairs, doesn't look like a place where passers-by would come in.

Compared with the busy road outside, this dead and deserted alley is simply another world.

But now, in this uninhabited alley in a busy city but "isolated"

The male high school student named Uchida who was standing on the rooftop just now was lying motionless on the ground.

"Uchida!"

"Hey Uchida!"

Ishikawa and Aoki shouted in panic.

They seemed to finally realize the consequences of their bullying behavior, and they appeared very nervous.

Just like that, they stood there stiffly, looking at Uchida's body with ugly expressions, silent and not knowing what they were thinking.

At this time, Lin Xinyi took action.

Like instinct, he ran as fast as possible to the prone Uchida.

Immediately afterwards, Lin Xinyi quickly squatted down and carefully turned the unfamiliar boy, who was already motionless, over from the ground.

Uchida's cheek was thus exposed to everyone.

His face was covered with large areas of scratches and contusions, and there was a large and shocking fracture depression on his forehead.

The young man's former smile was no longer visible on this green face. What was left was only rotten flesh and blood, hideous scars, and the eternal silence.

"The skull was deformed by the impact."

Lin Xinyi's heart sank, he knew that such an injury would definitely be fatal.

At this time, he didn't care that he wasn't wearing gloves, and immediately stretched out his hand to test Uchida's breathing, and then opened his eyelids to check his pupils.

His breathing had stopped long ago, his pupils were dilated on both sides, and there was no light in his eyes.

When I touch my wrist, there is no pulse and my arm muscles have relaxed.

"How's it going?" Kudo Shinichi also slowly came closer.

"Already dead." Lin Xinyi frowned tightly, his tone a little complicated.

He had indeed seen a lot of dead people, but it was never like now where he could meet someone dead while walking on the road.

There is a completely different feeling between being notified in advance and going to the scene to examine the body, and being caught off guard and witnessing death in life.

Lin Xinyi couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

In contrast, Kudo Shinichi's performance was much calmer.

Seeing someone die in front of him, the high school student acted calmer than the former medical examiner.

It was as if he had long been accustomed to this situation.

After hearing that Uchida had been confirmed to have passed away, Kudo Shinichi immediately entered the focused detective mode.

He was observing, thinking, and extremely engaged, just like an actor standing on the stage or a candidate sitting in the examination room.

"Will you commit suicide by jumping off the building? This alley is a dead end, and the fire ladder is also rusted like that. It is estimated that not many people will come here normally."

"In this case, most of the items on the ground should be related to the deceased who fell from the building today."

With this thought in his mind, Kudo Shinichi began to carefully observe the ground near the corpse.

First, he saw a brown baseball cap.

This was the baseball cap they had seen before, Uchida wearing.

It's just that the baseball cap is not on the head of the deceased now, but scattered beside the body, most likely detached when it fell.

Then, Kudo Shinichi saw a few ordinary broken bricks from the ground.

Apart from that, the only thing that can be found is

A section of iron guardrail covered with rust.

"Did this guardrail fall from the iron ladder?"

Kudo Shinichi raised his head and looked at the iron fire ladder welded to the outside of the department store wall:

Sure enough, at the top of the iron fire ladder, in front of the iron door on the fourth floor, a large section of the iron guardrail disappeared.

"The iron ladder has been in disrepair for a long time, so part of the guardrail fell down?"

"Or it could be that the deceased knocked down the iron ladder guardrail during his fall."

Kudo Shinichi frowned slightly.

A baseball cap, a few broken bricks, the iron ladder that goes up to the fourth floor on the outside of the building wall, and the broken guardrail at the top of the iron ladder.

All the clues from the scene gathered in his mind.

"Could it be that"

"Is that going to be the case?"

Kudo Shinichi's eyes lit up, he understood something.

Then, he suddenly turned his head and looked at the two delinquent boys who had been silent:

"Ishikawa, Aoki."

"Is it okay to call you that?"

Ishikawa and Aoki did not answer, they still stood aside in silence.

"Uchida who jumped off the building and died was the classmate who was bullied by you, right?"

"When did you separate from him? Where did you beat him just now?"

Kudo Shinichi asked straight to the point again.

"Forehead"

Ishikawa was slightly startled, and his eyes suddenly became more hostile:

"W-Why are you asking me these?"

"Are you a policeman? Why should I tell you?"

"Say it again, say it again"

He swallowed, scratched his neck, and roared sternly:

"So what if we beat Uchida?"

"We didn't strike hard, and we didn't kill him."

"He ran to jump off the building by himself. You and those who passed by also saw this."

"So, his death has nothing to do with us!"

"At most we are just bullying, and if we get a few words from the police we will be fine."

The more Ishikawa talked, the more confident he became, as if his bullying behavior was just a trivial matter.

He even said confidently to Lin Xinyi, Kudo, and Mao Lilan and Miyano Shiho who came later:

"By the way, you guys, don't leave in a hurry."

"You are witnesses. You all saw Uchida jumping down from the building by himself."

"Uchida's death has nothing to do with us. When the police come, you have to explain these things clearly to the police."

""

There was a brief silence.

Lin Xinyi looked at the corpse quietly and ignored it completely.

A smile appeared on Kudo's lips, which was very meaningful.

Miyano Shiho, who arrived later, was even more lazy to speak because she had no interest in the matter at all.

Compared to the murder case, Lin Xinyi, who was observing the corpse with a serious face, caught her attention more.

Finally, the only one who broke the silence was Miss Mao Lilan:

"You two bastards!"

She clenched her fists until her joints turned white, and the resentment she had accumulated for a long time completely exploded at this moment:

"This classmate Uchida has been forced to jump off the building by you."

"Don't you two even have the least sense of guilt?"

The male high school student named Aoki lowered his head with evasive eyes, not daring to look at Mao Lilan.

But Ishikawa was just the opposite. Not only did he not show any guilt, he even replied viciously:

"What does it mean to be made to jump off a building by us?"

"He himself was in a bad mood and came to commit suicide. Can he, can he rely on us?"

"Tell the police if you can!"

"Let's see if they arrest us for this?"

"You?!" Very rarely, Mao Lilan got angry.

She saw Uchida's completely lifeless body, and also saw Ishikawa's ferocious expression that showed no guilt at all.

The sharp contrast between the dead and the living made her almost uncontrollable in anger.

"Don't get excited, Lan!"

At the critical moment, Kudo Shinichi once again stopped his childhood sweetheart in time.

"Shinichi!"

Mao Lilan obviously didn't want to just stand by and watch the two bullies continue to act arrogantly in front of the victim's body.

But Kudo Shinichi's attitude was very firm: "The punishment of prisoners should be left to the police."

Mao Lilan slowly lowered her fist. She knew that Shinichi was right and she should not fight violence with violence.

However, she still found it completely unacceptable:

"The police won't care about this kind of thing"

"No one will take care of things like school bullying."

Mao Lilan's expression was a little sad. She felt sad for the injustice suffered by the deceased.

"No, this time is different."

Kudo Shinichi said in Maori Lan's ear very seriously:

"Didn't you notice?"

"Mr. Lin Xinyi has been observing the corpse from the beginning, and his eyes are the same as then."

"Huh?" Mao Lilan was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized something: "Did you mean?"

"That's right."

"Mr. Lin must have noticed it too."

Kudo Shinichi nodded slightly, his eyes extremely sharp:

"Bullying is no one's business, but killing is different."